Valley of The Golden Mummies
in Baharis oasis , near the ruins of what is believed to be the temple of Alexander The Great . a stunning excavation happened in 1999. a place which called now the valley of the golden mummies .
the area originally was found by luck when a donkey of one of the guards of a near by temple of Alexander the great was slipped into a hall , the guard inform his boss of what happened who by his turn called Dr. Zahi Hawas to come and see the area .
IN 1999 Hawass and his team conducted one of the largest and most important expeditions. This expedition gave insights into the life and death of Egyptians of Bahariya who lived during Greco-Roman period since 332 BC.
In the first excavation, they discovered around 105 mummies wearing golden masks in the four tombs.found unique statues, colorful wall reliefs, pottery, and jewelry.
These mummies were of various shapes and styles
1. Mummies with golden masks: Out of 105 mummies, 60 of them had golden masks and were of wealthy individuals. They were covered with an elaborate thin layer of gold.
2. Mummies covered with cartonnage: Some of the mummies were painted with cartonnage and scenes depicting different gods and goddesses such as Anubis, Osiris, Isis, Thoth and the four children of Horus.
3. Mummies in anthropoid coffins: They were undecorated mummies placed inside human-shaped terracotta coffins made of pottery.
4. Mummies wrapped with linen
In order to conduct the excavation, the whole site area was divided into 10x10 square meters. After uncovering tombs with 105 mummies inside, Dr. Hawass and his team excavated only 7 tombs a year later. Rock-cut tombs were excavated the next year which had distinct architectural styles. These styles included the shape of the ankh sign, the tombs of a cross, a single horizontal axis with several burial chambers on the sides, and tombs cut into the rock for the burial of one person. Different types of mummies were excavated, most of them encased with gold or gilded.
I/A,B was the first and largest tomb ever uncovered here in the valley. Being a group burial, it had 42 mummies belonging to one family of different generations. The architectural elements of the tomb include entrance of the north leading to stairs, small room for delivery of the mummy, burial hall in a rectangular shape and 7 niches for burials.
With the help of x-ray machine, evidence of many diseases such as cancer was found. It was discovered that offerings like wine, dates, figs, olives, beans were given to the deceased on religious occasions. Funerary equipment was also excavated that served as the guaranteed the perpetuation of the deceased in the afterlife. Pottery vessels, jewelry, statues, coins The coins are made of bronze and were placed in the hand of the deceased .
